Straw Prices

i was surprised to see several fields of barley straw still not drawn in during my travels , this rain isn,t doing them any good
 
i was surprised to see several fields of barley straw still not drawn in during my travels , this rain isn,t doing them any good
The last of the straw here was only picked up yesterday, was bought in July by a regular customer, I had to chase him to clear fields.
 
i was surprised to see several fields of barley straw still not drawn in during my travels , this rain isn,t doing them any good

I passed a field this afternoon between Tullamore and Kinnity with hundreds of round bales of hay still out , and sheep grazing the aftergrass . I would think that it was made late , as in probably Sept?
 
I passed a field this afternoon between Tullamore and Kinnity with hundreds of round bales of hay still out , and sheep grazing the aftergrass . I would think that it was made late , as in probably Sept?

Local knowledgeable farmer cut no silage/hay until september and then cut it all the same day in the good spell. He's the sort of lad that would come into your field that you're cutting in June and tell you that your grass was gone a week beyond cutting and predict that you'd lose DMD and protein as a result. The first stuff he baled into hay was down for 10 days. What was left got a couple of wet days in the middle and was baled after being only 17 days on the ground. On one portion of the farm he drew all the bales into one field because the other fields are very low and get wet fast. We had a good bit of rain this week and I notice that his field full of bales was under water on wednesday last and he was walking through it in a pair of shorts and wellingtons.
 
Local knowledgeable farmer cut no silage/hay until september and then cut it all the same day in the good spell. He's the sort of lad that would come into your field that you're cutting in June and tell you that your grass was gone a week beyond cutting and predict that you'd lose DMD and protein as a result. The first stuff he baled into hay was down for 10 days. What was left got a couple of wet days in the middle and was baled after being only 17 days on the ground. On one portion of the farm he drew all the bales into one field because the other fields are very low and get wet fast. We had a good bit of rain this week and I notice that his field full of bales was under water on wednesday last and he was walking through it in a pair of shorts and wellingtons.
It wasn't Evenflow, by any chance?
 
The straw market seems to have stalled for the moment . Enquires have dried up and while i achieved the target price of 20 a bale for all straw that i sold some
"Potential customers " opted to purchase elsewhere as a few other farmers were selling " puffballs " at 15 and the gullible were swayed by the appearance of value
So a couple of hundred bales will have to be housed to await a buyer come spring hopefully
One of the highlights of the straw sales was the sale of ONE small square bale to a woman to bed her pet hen . Decent woman parted with a tenner for it as she had nothing smaller on her .
I could do with a few more customers like her a couple of thousand more that is.....
Now the bad news not one field of spring barley straw put more money in my pocket than the straw chopping scheme would have .
Maybe its my legendary generousity and im putting way to much straw into the bales and i need a puff ball baler not a McHale ???
Either way with the price of fert breaking the sound barrier if the straw chopping scheme is repeated next year im putting a lot more into it
In fact all the spring corn and i suspect i wont be alone .
 
Local knowledgeable farmer cut no silage/hay until september and then cut it all the same day in the good spell. He's the sort of lad that would come into your field that you're cutting in June and tell you that your grass was gone a week beyond cutting and predict that you'd lose DMD and protein as a result. The first stuff he baled into hay was down for 10 days. What was left got a couple of wet days in the middle and was baled after being only 17 days on the ground. On one portion of the farm he drew all the bales into one field because the other fields are very low and get wet fast. We had a good bit of rain this week and I notice that his field full of bales was under water on wednesday last and he was walking through it in a pair of shorts and wellingtons.
Interesting lookin character ‘on top o hill’ along N4 I’d guess not million miles from u.
 
Interesting lookin character ‘on top o hill’ along N4 I’d guess not million miles from u.
Ha ha. The water went below his bale level this morning.

Is he the owner of the only combine in Leitrim?

He farms almost 200 acres with a mf165 and a 135 as backup. Cuts, bales, spreads slurry. He makes a mountain of compost. He cuts rushes for all his neighbors, bales them and feeds them to his cows and composts what they don't eat (they leave very little)
 
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Was stuff mowed opposite lake presume it was his couldn’t imagine protein value being too high�
It was his. Protein would be a lot lower after it sitting in water for a couple of days.

He thinks everyone else is mad. Maybe he's right.

You could write a great book about him. He would be a hero to some and a madman to others.

I suppose if everyone was the same, we'd have nothing to talk about.
 
The straw market seems to have stalled for the moment . Enquires have dried up and while i achieved the target price of 20 a bale for all straw that i sold some
"Potential customers " opted to purchase elsewhere as a few other farmers were selling " puffballs " at 15 and the gullible were swayed by the appearance of value
So a couple of hundred bales will have to be housed to await a buyer come spring hopefully
One of the highlights of the straw sales was the sale of ONE small square bale to a woman to bed her pet hen . Decent woman parted with a tenner for it as she had nothing smaller on her .
I could do with a few more customers like her a couple of thousand more that is.....
Now the bad news not one field of spring barley straw put more money in my pocket than the straw chopping scheme would have .
Maybe its my legendary generousity and im putting way to much straw into the bales and i need a puff ball baler not a McHale ???
Either way with the price of fert breaking the sound barrier if the straw chopping scheme is repeated next year im putting a lot more into it
In fact all the spring corn and i suspect i wont be alone .

You are not alone, thinking the exact same here. And have been since harvest even before fert prices went into the stratosphere.
 
Generosity….?I’dve given her the one bale for nothing…..
Im afraid not nothing for nothing and very little for tuppence with me☺☺ Seriously though it was she who insisted i take the tenner .Put me thinking about how to break into the hen bedding market ...... Though now that i think about it a few forays into the hen feed job with oats didnt work out to well in the distant past ..
Let me see must have been 83 and i was cutting oats in a field that was part baled when a hiace van with a " banana boat " trailer something like a cut down caravan drove into the field . Three hardy looking bucks got out and wanted to buy 100 bales of straw . Now i was a very raw young fella then and sales were very much the guvnors department but in his absence i sold them the hundred at 35 p each which was the going rate
The made short work of loading them and when i was unloading at the top headland the boss came over and handed me two twenty pound notes
I clapped my pockets and said i had no change and he said "" shure the are great looking oats can i have a small bag of them for the hens instead of the fiver ??? The hens will give lashings of eggs ."
Of course big shot thinking of another fiver for pints at the weekend told him of course " work away " . Now it was a long narrow field and the oats been partially lodged required my full attention so it was only at the bottom while turning that i could see the trailer at the top . And what a sight two of the men were on top of the load legs spread with sacks between them scooping oats like Tinkers picking spuds the third was carrying sacks that the handed down over to the van.....
Im being robbed fuccking blind here was my first thought my second was what if the auld fella comes on the scene he was due to resume baling and empty the loads !!! If he knew i would be condemmed as " not to right in the head " one of his favourite expressions God rest him . I shoved the combine into top gear and raced for the trailer shouting and waving at them .
About a hundred yards from the trailer the hopped into the van and flew by me with a big wave and a loud beep of the horn heading for the gate
Hmm a good half ton of oats for a fiver not one of my better results but at least the old man remained in the dark ....
Another year an old hag who was locally reputed to be a Witch asked me for five cwt of oats for hens . " Deliver them on Saturday and i will pay you whatever you want " she said. Music to my young ears i duly rocked up on Saturday with the oats and carried them into a foul smelling shack . Them when i mentioned money she called me all sort of obscene names and threatened to " plant a sheaf for me " I hit full reverse and fled .
On making inquiries the general consensus was that i should chalk it up to experience .
The really annoying thing was her daughter would dig me out of it in public if our paths crossed over trying to " rob her mother "
The great Bo Diddley always said " if you do the gig get da dollar and fucck the rest " but sometimes you have to cut and run ....
 
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Had a bale of oaten straw left singly so gave a bit if it to some new purchases tonight. Suffice to say it was wolved down fast.

Might drive up straw price!
I've had a few enquires about straw lately. It's always the same with some. When the combines are rolling they either want the straw for next to nothing or think it'll just be there for whenever they can bothered. Chape straw is going to be scarce.
 
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